Besides jewelery I learned this when I looked it up: "Prior to the introduction of plastics, it was used for billiard balls, piano keys, Scottish bagpipes, buttons and a wide range of ornamental items. Synthetic substitutes for ivory have been developed. Plastics have been viewed by piano purists as an inferior ivory substitute on piano keys, although other recently developed materials more closely resemble the feel of real ivory.In Southeast Asian countries where Muslim Malay peoples live, such as Malaysia, Indonesia and the Philippines, ivory was the material of choice for making the handles of magical kris daggers. In the Philippines, ivory was also used to craft the faces and hands of Catholic icons and images of saints.Tooth and tusk ivory can be carved into a vast variety of shapes and objects. A small example of modern carved ivory objects are small statuary such as okimono, netsukes, jewelry, flatware handles, furniture inlays, and piano keys. Additionally, warthog tusks, and teeth from sperm whales, orcas and hippos can also be scrimshawed or superficially carved, thus retaining their morphologically recognizable shapes.Trade in the ivory from the tusks of dead mammoths has occurred for 300 years and continues to be legal. Mammoth ivory is used today to make handcrafted knives and similar implements. Mammoth ivory is rare and costly, because mammoths have been extinct for millennia and scientists loathe to sell museum-worthy specimens in pieces, but this trade does not threaten any living species.[27]

Some estimates suggest that 10 million mammoths are still buried in Siberia.[28]

A species of hard nut is gaining popularity as a replacement for ivory, although its size limits its usability. It is sometimes called vegetable ivory, or tagua, and is the seed endosperm of the ivory nut palm commonly found in coastal rainforests of Ecuador, Peru and Colombia."

I think the only use I have heard of before mentioned in your info. is the piano keys, but thought as your info. suggest that most piano keys nowadays are not actually ivory. I am not a piano purist, so I couldn't tell the difference.

With all the modern man made products available today, I don't see why ivory is used. I guess because people see it as "special" or "higher quality".

The only sure way to stop it would be to remove the source. But that would mean detusking the elephants. I used to think they wouldn't be too badly affected because I thought they only use them for fighting and if they all had no tusks no one would have an advantage. Then it occurred to me that they also use them for digging - for food and other things. But it is the only sure way.

But then the killers would still kill them to get at the stumps - with a shortage of supply the price would go up and the stumps would be valuable.

A less efficient way is to encourage elephant tourism. I don't mean encourage the elephants to become tourists. No, encourage tourists to observe them. Then the locals will protect them because they will be a valuable resource. Rich countries would need to ensure the tourism industry was financially supported if need be. If we want elephants to survive we have to be willing to pay.